1. Field of the Invention
The structure of the present invention relates to a device for removing submicron to micron size ferrous particles from moving liquids. The device uses a series of magnets that are mounted within a frame. The device is to be mounted on the exterior surface of a filter canister. A magnetic force attracts ferrous particles entrained within liquid passing through the canister and hold such against the inside surface of the canister preventing continued circulation of these particles within the liquid flow path which includes the canister and thereby prevents these particles from being distributed to be wedged between the working parts of the engine which is to be lubricated by the liquid. The device can also be used to remove ferrous particles from a fuel line flow path and from the flow path of a crankcase.
2. Description of the Related Art
The subject matter of the present invention is deemed to be an improvement over the structure defined within U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,556,540 and 6,554,999. There has been a license agreement by the assignee of the present invention concerning these patents.
Internal combustion engines are used in automobiles, trucks, boats, air compressors, robotics, motorcycles and lawnmowers. All such engines usually include a cylindrical shaped filter canister in conjunction with the lubricating oil flow path of the engine. Also, there may be a second filter canister utilized in conjunction with the fuel flow path of the engine. To eliminate the larger particles of particulate foreign matter that become entrained within the oil due to engine shedding, the engine oil is typically forced through a filter canister which includes a porous filtering medium that is to allow the oil to pass therethrough but allegedly does not allow the passage of the particulate matter. In this manner, the larger particles of particulate matter can be removed from the engine lubricating oil. However, because of this separation technique relies upon filtration through a porous material, particles that are smaller than the openings in the porous material are not removed by the filtering medium. One particularly harmful type of foreign matter in lubricating oil is small metallic (ferrous) particulates which are created by the frictional contact between the moving metal parts of the engine. These particles are actually shards of metal from the metal parts of the engine that are dislodged during the operation of the engine (shedding). These metallic particulates can damage important engine components as such circulate through the engine.
Small metallic particles often have a cross-sectional dimension smaller than the openings in the porous filter material of the filter canister which means that the oil filter is ineffective in the removing of these particles. When not removed by the oil filter, these small metallic particles will freely circulate through the engine until they are finally removed when the oil is changed. Typically, the porous material used in oil filters consists of a fibrous material that has openings greater than twenty microns. Hence, metallic particles with a cross-dimension of twenty microns or smaller are not trapped by the filter. There have been reports that have been prepared in the past that have stated that the vast majority of wear in an engine are caused by metallic particles in the oil that are less than twenty microns. SAE studies have shown that there is a seventy percent wear reduction within an engine when particulates that are fifteen micron and larger are removed. A further huge advance is anticipated when particles down to two micron are removed. This particulate matter is small enough to get wedged between the metallic working members of the engine, and as the engine continues to operate, these metallic particulates causes scoring to occur on the metal working members of the engine. Also, many of these larger metallic particles (twenty microns and above) have sharp edges. Movement of these large particles by the force of the flow of the oil will cause the particles to “slice” like a knife through the filter canister medium producing holes greater than twenty microns thereby decreasing the filtering effectiveness of the filter canister resulting in the filter being ineffective for particulates larger than twenty microns.
The micron and submicron sized metallic particles are the major cause of wear of the moving components of the engine. Specifically, as oil is circulated throughout the engine to lubricate the various moving components, the metallic particles entrained in the oil are carried to be interfaced between the moving components. At these locations, the hardness of the metallic particles causes metal to bear against metal, and reliance is placed solely upon the oil to maintain a lubricating film. When these metallic particles are brought to the interfaces, damage to the adjoining surfaces are likely. This damage eventually results in a degradation of the close tolerances between the moving parts, causing a loss in operating engine efficiency and more frequent maintenance in the form of repair. By some estimates, these metallic particles are the cause of more than one-half of the wear on the engine.
In the past, one approach taken by the prior art to eliminate these particles is to install a magnetized drain plug in the crankcase of the engine. The magnetized drain plug generates a magnetic field around the drain plug which is to attract and remove some of the metallic particles from the lubricating oil that flow through the crankcase. When the engine is running, the flow of oil through the crankcase is at a high flow rate. The magnetized drain plug has a very weak magnetic field and only collects particles when the flow of the oil stops. So whatever particles happen to be in close proximity of the drain plug are then caused to adhere to the drain plug. Once the engine is restarted, those particles that are on that drain plug are merely washed away and then recirculated throughout the entire engine to then be wedged between the working parts.
Other prior approaches to solve this problem is to attach a magnet to the oil filter canister tending to create a magnetic field within the filter to attract and hold the ferrous particles against the inside wall of the filter. Unfortunately, prior art attempts did not generate a sufficiently strong magnetic field to attract and hold any significant number of metallic particles from the oil to the inside wall of the filter canister. The metallic particles contained in the oil, even if such passed through the magnetic field continued to circulate through the engine. However, the magnetic devices of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,556,540 and 6,554,999 have a sufficiently strong field to be effective generally between one-hundred twenty five pounds and five hundred pounds of force against the canister.